Disregard this asshole. This forum is not worth $5 for information like that. What operating system are you running? Do you want to use it as a HTPC (Home Theater PC). You can do the Myth, Windows Media Center or software that comes with ATI tuner cards for a framework to control the card. If you want to use Myth, I would take a look at the recommended cards. Though fucktard is right, hauppauge is a good card.

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pin dick, he's asking a question that's been asked 548 times and been answered 548 times. Maybe he can take a little initiative and check out one of those, rather than start a new thread. But even given that I *still* helped him, mostly because he didn't go 0 to asshole like you.

It really depends on how much TV you watch. I bought my tuner because I wanted to record shows that I would miss or was to busy to watch. I can also pause and rewind live TV. I didn't want to buy another TV because I didnt want to clutter my room. Plus I would have to buy a VCR/DVR just to get the same effect. If that sounds like something you would want, then I say go and get one. I have an ATI TV Wonder Elite and the quality is excellent. Its based on the ATI Theater 550 Pro chipset, so I recommend any product that uses it. Other cards I've heard that are excellent: Nvidia DualTV MCE (lets you record one channel, while watching another), and Hauppage line of cards.

The only con is that it recording videos take up alot of space. I have a hard drive dedicated to storing videos.

Whatever tuner you choose, make sure it has hardware MPEG2 encoding. I know processors can handle the load, but its just something less to load up on resources. Stay away from USB tuners.

You'll also have to look into TV/DVR software to actually watch and record movies with. There's Windows Media Center Edition (my roommate has this and its excellent), BeyondTV (which I use and its great), SageTV, and a few others I can't remember. Do some googling on it.

Thanks for all that actually helped. While im deeply saddened for being a loser because i dont pay to get an avatar and the ability to browse old topics. I still got an answer. So i am proud to be 549th person to ask and receive an answer.